Ocean City, MarylandMay 1963

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of May 2, 1963, near Ocean City, Maryland, six witnesses observed a light in the sky that resembled a bright star. The object was dim white in color and made no sound. It appeared to move in a straight course without deviating, and the witnesses reported it remained steady without any tumbling motion. The total length of the observation was one minute and thirty seconds.

The object's appearance raised a question among investigators. While it resembled a satellite in many ways, two details stood out: the light fluctuated slightly, and its speed appeared greater than what a satellite would normally show. The witnesses also reported the object was possibly closer than a typical satellite would be. Despite these discrepancies, the Air Force found nothing in the sighting characteristics that ruled out an aircraft explanation.

The case file notes that an radar echo was not visible on May 4 in Maryland. The investigators concluded that the duration and flight characteristics, combined with the witnesses' description, were consistent with an aircraft sighting. The file marks the case evaluation as "unknown," though the comments section suggests the Air Force leaned toward the aircraft explanation.

The full case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below in its entirety across 8 pages.

Reported location

Ocean City, Maryland

Date of incident

May 1963

State / country

MD / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 47

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 8

View transcribed text

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1 PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
| 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
{ 0 Was Balloon
a far 98 : y O Probably Balloon
3 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 7. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 BOREL BUSSE
“ pb 4 .
3 2100 X B 3X Was Aircraft |
i Local £22 tf Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar 0 Probably Aircraft \
b : eMT_05/02007 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft
k 5. PHOTOS 6. 5 URCE O Was Astronomical |
- O Yes O Probably Astronomical {
E # Reo Civilian O Possibly Astronomicol
i J een RH
3 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Other
i o Gat ag Dato for Evaluation i
E i minute, 30 seconds one ot reported dain
i “Iio. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
3 | Light about size of br ight star obser- Echo was not visible on 4 May
4 ved in flight to deviate from straight in Maryland. Nothing to indi-
if ~ourse. Appearance of satellite except cate this was not a/c sighting.
3 for fluctuation and speed ind icated Duration & flight characteris-
3 ;re2ater than echo. Dim white, nO sound, tics as well as description
3 : yssibly doser than satellite. Six conforms with this analysis.
d i tnesses. Light st sady, with no tumbling
i sociated with Echo.
| ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 29000759